Matt Critchley delivered another impressive application for all-rounder status when he marked his first Specsavers County Championship match of the season with a century.

The 20-year-old, who became Derbyshire's youngest centurion when he scored an unbeaten 137 against Northants at Derby two years ago, made 102 from 148 balls out of 332-9 on the first day against Durham at Chesterfield.

Wayne Madsen made 54, his highest score against Durham, but Derbyshire CCC were heading for a swift decline to their first innings when they were rescued by an unbroken 10th-wicket stand of 66.

Five wickets for 28 runs after tea gave Durham the upper hand but skipper Billy Godleman, who came in down the order at number six because he was feeling unwell in the morning, and debutant Gurjit Sandhu frustrated them.

Godleman was 79 not out at the close and Sandhu, the former Middlesex left-arm bowler who had impressed in the Derbyshire seconds, a career-best 36 not out in only his fifth first-class innings.

Together, they equalled the county record for the 10th wicket against Durham, set by Ole Mortensen and Richard Sladdin at the Racecourse ground in Durham in 1993.

Durham also found a new hero in 18-year-old seamer Matthew Potts, who took three wickets in his third first-class appearance, but their day might have been different if they had bowled more consistently and had caught Madsen on one when he edged Chris Rushworth to third slip in the ninth over.

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Rushworth had already trapped Luis Reece lbw with one that kept low, after Derbyshire had won the toss, and Madsen's wicket would have given them a chance of exposing a batting order weakened by the absence of Shiv Thakor and Gary Wilson with minor injuries.

Madsen, who needed lengthy treatment when he was struck on the left elbow by Paul Coughlin, batted for another 34 overs to establish a platform which Critchley and Godleman exploited with a fifth-wicket stand of 99.

Critchley's timing and placement was impressive, although Durham were guilty of giving him too much width, as 18 fours in his hundred suggest.

A frustrating day for the visitors was compounded when the umpires reprieved Godleman on 10 after Graham Clark claimed a low catch at gully off Rushworth.

Godleman was in danger of being stranded short of his half-century after tea following Critchley's exit at 238-5, when he played across a ball from Potts.

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But Sandhu emerged from an uncertain start to play soundly on his debut and help Godleman steer his side to a third batting point.

A score of 332 with the possibility of a few more to come made it an good day for Derbyshire and Critchley saw enough to be encouraged that their tactic of naming three front-line spinners could prove a smart move.

"There's enough in the pitch and we saw a few balls at the end that spun, so if you bowl consistently in the right place there's enough to take 20 wickets in the game," he said.

"With it being a club ground it tends to deteriorate and spin a bit more and with Imran (Tahir), Hamidullah (Qadri) and myself we should be well equipped.

"Having runs on the board helps and we saw a few balls misbehave at the end, so if we can get up to 350 that would be good."

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Durham head coach Jon Lewis said: "We had good periods during the day and we had less good periods. The period after tea was the only time we had good stuff coming from both ends to create pressure.

"There were good spells individually before that but they weren't backed up for long enough at the other end.

"They've got a batting line-up which has a few senior guys missing and Billy (Godleman) was struggling early on so it gave us an opportunity to get into their top order and then having got through the middle order quite well we missed the opportunity to finish it off."